Why Zelda Still Rules the Action RPG

"1UP, we confess, has not been the kindest friend to the Legend of Zelda series of late. In fact, one might even assume that we have some sort of dark agenda against the games. That we're out to perform a cruel hit job. To poison the shape of public discourse about Nintendo's work and undermine the very foundations of the franchise by eroding the world's affection for and confidence in Zelda!"

Zelda is not an RPG by today's "standards" when you look at the rest of the genre, but it was an RPG before any of these other games existed. Well it was at least an adventure game.. You know what nevermind.

Zelda is more of an Action Adventure than an Action RPG, but yeah, it does stand as the very pinnacle of the genre. Sure, there's certain games now and then like Darksiders and Okami which are equally good, but Zelda has been going on for 25 years with no game less than good.

It's safe to say that if it wasn't for Zelda paving the way for the genre, the challengers wouldn't be what they are today.